3. I will not punish my dog for behaviors that stem from fear.

I will not punish my dog for barking IF/WHEN my dog is barking because of he/she is afraid or frustrated.  I may have to do some investigating to determine if my dog is afraid or barking to demand something.

I will try and remember that aggression stems from fear.  This means that when my dog is behaving aggressively (barking, growling, lunging) the cause was something that upset/scared my dog.

I will NOT make my dog's fear worse by punishing behaviors that my dog is not in control of (flight/flight is a reflex).

I will consider that my dog is frustrated, upset or fearful and needs Classical Conditioning.

I will give my dog only one definition per word.  I will consider that my dog might not be stubborn or stupid, but that she might NOT KNOW what I want.

I will take the time to deliberately teach my dog a new word when the situation calls for it.   I will also help my dog with hand-signals if needed.  I will be patient with my dogs, because while they are good at listening, dogs are limited in their language abilities.  

I will accept that my dog may know the word "DOWN" as a position (one that calls for the legs and belly/side to make contact with the floor).  I will try not to get mad at my dog for not really understanding all of the meanings this word.  If my dog is lying on the couch and I yell at her to "GET DOWN" I will understand that she might just lay there and wag thinking the whole time: "I AM, NOW WHERE IS MY REWARD."

I will remember that my dog is "LISTENING" to both my body language and my words -most dogs are better at reading body language that we realize.  I will try to remember, when my dog fails to respond, or responds incorrectly to my commands that she may have been missing a piece of the puzzle, or that I may have failed to see that she never really knew the word at all, but was "cheating" by reading my body language all along.

Take Home Message:  If your dog isn't doing what you want, maybe they really don't understand your words!  Consider that your dog may be guessing what you want an awful lot of the time, and that your dog might be a very, very good mind reader.  So good that they have you fooled into thinking they understand everything... except when they are being bad.  For more on fool-proof commanding read this.

I will remember that my dog comes from a long line of beggars, scroungers, and clever food-finding survivalists.

I will not hold this survival skill (one my ancestors liked and bred to keep) against my dog.

I will not expect my dog to feign a mere casual interest in food.  

I will try to understand that to my dog, walking around with food (aka: holding an ice cream cone or a sandwich) is practically inviting them to share.  If we wanted to keep it to ourselves we would surely behave this way; bring our food to a quiet corner, hunker down, and eat it quickly! 

I will try to remember that putting food down, or leaving food unattended is the same as putting out an all-points-bulletin "UN-NEEDED, UN-WANTED FOOD!"

Take Home Message: Dogs like food.  Dog's like food a lot.  Dog's don't beg; they ask with their eyes!

This question came as a comment from the following post.

DECEMBER 27, 2008, 8:57 AM

My rescue dog is a large German Shepherd surrendered to a shelter by her owner in California. She is a good dog and smart but has never been trained. She had a computer name only so does not know her new name. I want her to come when I call her. She has never had treats. She takes them then drops them. I take her and my other rescue dog on walks on a leash but can not trust either to come back if they were loose. Any ideas. Thanks.

For your rescue GS I would recommend the following:

Dogs don't have an agenda.  There is no such thing as a "bad dog."  

There are dogs who bite, but it's not their fault that they have big teeth and jaws.  Nor is it their fault that we like that about them and decided to let them live intimately with us.  Furthermore, all dogs can and will eventually bite if hurt badly enough, scared badly enough, or threatened.  

Generally when people say they have a "bad dog," what they mean to say is that they have an untrained dog.  Just keep in mind that untrained, under-motivated, or under-exercised does not mean BAD!

Often when I meet clients and their dogs for the first time I am more concerned with putting everyone at ease.  And sometimes when I'm out and about I avoid telling people I am a trainer.  Such a stigma comes with my profession...people immediately get weird with their dogs, get embarrassed by them being dogs, or worse, start "showing off" how strict they can be.  I loathe strict when its obvious the dog has NO CLUE what the person wants.  

I happen to love a clever, rascally dog.  There is nothing as cute to me a dog being naughty.  

This doesn't mean I approve of dogs who bite, or bark, or steal toys, etc. But you have to admit, I'd be a really poor trainer if naughty behavior made me lose my mind instead of bringing a smile to my face.  

If you can't appreciate it, you won't want to look at it.  If you can't look at it, in detail, you won't ever know it well enough to change it.

Love your DOG!

Honor their doginess.

Appreciate them for what they are.

Happy Holidays!